Just thirty minutes of physical activity daily irrespective of its intensity for six days in a week is as good as giving up smoking and also reduces the risk of death from any cause among elderly men by as much as 40 per cent, a new research has found.
The research, published in the BMJ, based its findings on a study involving almost 26,000 men born between 1923 and 1932 and who were invited for a health check in 1972-73. Out of these 15,000 agreed to getting their height, weight, cholesterol and blood pressure measured. They were also asked whether they smoked. They were also asked to respond to a validated survey (Gothenburg questionnaire) on their weekly leisure time physical activity levels.
Researchers categorised the physical activity levels as sedentary (watching TV/reading); light (walking or cycling, including to and from work for at least 4 hours a week); moderate (formal exercise, sporting activities, heavy gardening for at least 4 hours a week); and vigorous (hard training or competitive sports several times a week).
Out of the initial almost 15,000 men who had agreed to be a part of the study, some 6000 survived in the year 2000 and were asked to repeat the process in 2000 and were monitored for almost 12 years to see if physical activity level over time was associated with a lowered risk of death from cardiovascular disease, or any cause, and if its impact were equivalent to quitting smoking.
During the monitoring period, 2154 out of the 5738 men who had gone through both health checks died.
The analysis indicated that less than an hour a week of light physical activity was not associated with any meaningful reduction in risk of death from any cause. But more than an hour was linked to a 32% to 56% lower risk.
Less than an hour of vigorous physical activity, on the other hand, was linked to a reduction in risk of between 23% and 37% for cardiovascular disease and death from any cause.
The more time spent doing vigorous exercise the lower the risk seemed to be, falling by between 36% and 49%.
And men who regularly engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity during their leisure time lived five years longer, on average, than those who were classified as sedentary.
Factoring in that the risk of death from heart disease/stroke rises with age, made only a slight difference to the results.
Overall, these showed that 30 minutes of physical activity–of light or vigorous intensity–6 days a week was associated with a 40% lower risk of death from any cause.
The impact would seem to be as good for health as quitting smoking among this age group, suggest the researchers.
This is an observational study so no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, and the researchers point out that only the healthiest participants in the first wave of the study took part in the second wave, which may have lowered overall absolute risk.
But the differences in risk of death between those who were inactive and active were striking, even at the age of 73, they suggest.
More effort should go into encouraging elderly men to become more physically active, with doctors emphasising the wide range of ill health that could be warded off as a result, conclude the researchers.
